Mozambique has started to evacuate some 55,000 people after heavy rains caused sea levels to rise to dangerous levels in parts of the country, officials say.

"We are asking people to move to safer areas," a spokeswoman for the national relief agency said.

The south and centre have been placed on red alert because of the floods, which have claimed several lives.

In 2000, 700 people died and half a million were made homeless in Mozambique's worst flooding on record.

The worst affected areas are in the southern Gaza province, where a number of rivers are currently above crisis levels.

Emergency teams are on stand-by and motorboats have been dispatched to help transport people to safety, the AFP news agency reports. The evacuees will be brought to temporary shelters. Some of them have been set up in the capital, Maputo.